Global medical tourism market to hit $100B by 2012

We all knew medical tourism was growing, but over the next few years, volume should explode say researchers speaking at a conference in Singapore. According to one researcher, the global medical tourism market should climb to a staggering $100 billion by 2012. (This figure is in direct contradiction to a study done last year by McKinsey & Co., which contended that the demand for medical tourism had been understated [1] by those in the business.)

The Asian medical tourism market, in particular, should be bolstered by rising quality standards and the growing demand for quality treatment, according to Andrew Keable, divisional director at Informa Life Sciences. After all, patients who undergo treatments in Asia often pay only 10 percent of the cost of similar treatment in the U.S. or United Kingdom, Keable notes.

What's more, countries like Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and India have implemented state-of-the-art medical technologies that should improve care. Combine that with the increasing sophistication of the travel industry, and medical tourism growth has excellent fuel, he says.

To get more information on this trend:
- read this Healthcare Finance News piece [2]

Related Articles:
Study: Medical tourism market smaller than predicted [1]
WellPoint begins paying for medical tourism [3]
Health plans begin to cover medical tourism [4]
Medical tourism or global healthcare? [5]